25 Quotes About Coffee from History's Most Caffeinated Thinkers

We reach for the French press in the morning before ever dreaming of getting work done. Our K-pods and pour-overs sustain us. And we’re not alone—some of history’s most legendary men and women lived for that caffeine jolt, too. Writers like Gertrude Stein and emperors like Napoleon Bonaparte needed a little kick to get moving.

Here, we’ve compiled our favorite quotes about coffee from throughout the ages. You’ll find that even unexpected figures like Jackie Chan and Bach make appearances, extolling the virtues of espressos, lattes, and simple black coffee.

Scroll down to see what these intellectuals and celebrities have to say about the importance of coffee.

Albert Camus

Who? Absurdist philosopher and journalist

“Should I kill myself, or have a cup of coffee?”

Photo: Pensaleas

Dave Barry

Who? Travel and humor writer

“It is inhumane, in my opinion, to force people who have a genuine medical need for coffee to wait in line behind people who apparently view it as some kind of recreational activity. I bet this kind of thing does not happen to heroin addicts. I bet that when serious heroin addicts go to purchase their heroin, they do not tolerate waiting in line while some dilettante in front of them orders a hazelnut smack-a-cino with cinnamon sprinkles.”

Jonathan Swift

Henry Ward Beecher

Who? Clergyman and social reformer

“A cup of coffee – real coffee – home-browned, home ground, home made, that comes to you dark as a hazel-eye, but changes to a golden bronze as you temper it with cream that never cheated, but was real cream from its birth, thick, tenderly yellow, perfectly sweet, neither lumpy nor frothing on the Java: such a cup of coffee is a match for twenty blue devils and will exorcise them all.”

Sir James MacKintosh

Gertrude Stein

Who? American novelist and expat

“Coffee is a lot more than just a drink; it’s something happening. Not as in hip, but like an event, a place to be, but not like a location, but like somewhere within yourself. It gives you time, but not actual hours or minutes, but a chance to be, like be yourself, and have a second cup.”

Orson Welles

Honoré de Balzac

Who? French novelist and playwright

“This coffee falls into your stomach, and straightway there is a general commotion. Ideas begin to move like the battalions of the Grand Army of the battlefield, and the battle takes place. Things remembered arrive at full gallop, ensuing to the wind. The light cavalry of comparisons deliver a magnificent deploying charge, the artillery of logic hurry up with their train and ammunition, the shafts of with start up like sharpshooters. Similes arise, the paper is covered with ink; for the struggle commences and is concluded with torrents of black water, just as a battle with powder.”